Armenian Reporter:

President Sargsyan promotes Turkey protocols in diaspora meetings (updated)

ARF stages street protests in New York and Los Angeles

Published: Tuesday October 06, 2009

President Serge Sargsian meets with representatives of American-Armenian and Canadian-Armenian groups in New York, Oct. 3, 2009. Press Office of the President of Armenia

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President Sargsian promotes Turkey protocols in diaspora meetings

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New York - At meetings in New York and Los Angeles on October 3 and 4, representatives of American-Armenian and Canadian-Armenian groups had an exchange of views with President Serge Sargsyan on the agreement on the normalization of relations initialed between Armenia and Turkey. The meetings were part of a longer presidential tour with stops in France, Lebanon, and Russia.

According to Turkish officials, the protocols on diplomatic relations and bilateral cooperation are expected to be signed by the foreign ministers of the two countries in Zurich, Switzerland, on October 10. Armenian officials have not yet confirmed that date.

Armenian officials requested that the diaspora discussions be treated as off the record, although many of the statements delivered by organizations were made public either before or after the meetings.

The October 3 New York meeting included representatives from the eastern United States and Canada, with representatives from the western United States and Latin America attending the Los Angeles meeting the following day.

The meetings were by invitation only. No public appearances were organized, and an anticipated presidential interview with three Los Angeles-area Armenian television channels did not take place.

Debate in New York

The New York event involved about 50 participants from the diaspora, representing several dozen organizations, sitting at tables arranged in a large square, with media sitting at a separate table. President Sargsyan's delegation included former president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Arkady Ghoukasian, the chairperson of Armenia's Constitutional Court Gagik Harutiunian, Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan, and a dozen or more aides and diplomats.

Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who handled the negotiations over the protocols and is expected to be the one to sign the documents on Armenia's behalf, was not in the delegation. Neither were any members of parliament; the protocols require parliamentary ratification to go into effect.

Diaspora organizations represented included this newspaper's parent company CS Media and the U.S.-Armenia Public Affairs Committee (USAPAC). In attendance were archbishops and other clergy from the Eastern and Canadian dioceses and prelacies of the Armenian Church, representatives of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), Armenian National Committee of America, and affiliated groups in the eastern United States and Canada, the Armenian General Benevolent Union and its associated organizations, the Armenian Assembly of America and its affiliates, the Zoryan Institute, the Fund for Armenian Relief, the Armenia Fund, Birthright Armenia, and the Congress of Canadian Armenians.

Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Andranik Migranian, a Russian-Armenian community leader and former Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission member now working in New York, and Vahan Kololian of the Mosaic Institute of Toronto were also present.

Media representatives in attendance included the Armenian Reporter, the New York-based freelancer Florence Avakian, Ardzagank TV (which also reports for Voice of America Armenian Service), AGBU and Ararat magazines, the Boston-based Hairenik, Armenian Weekly, and Armenian Mirror-Spectator newspapers, and the Montreal-based Horizon newspaper.

The event began with on-the-record introductory remarks by the president. He reiterated his determination to proceed toward normalization of relations with Turkey, while also admitting to a number of reservations and concerns, many of which he had shared in his interview with the Armenian Reporter last week.

Mr. Sargsyan, who in the early 1990s was commander of Karabakh self-defense forces, compared the ongoing talks with Turkey to the war in Karabakh. The war was incredibly difficult and few initially expected Armenian success, he said, but it was also unavoidable.

Just as Armenians prevailed in the war, Mr. Sargsyan said, he fully expected to be successful in talks with Turkey as well, which he also described as difficult but unavoidable.

He also argued that the process of normalization of relations with Turkey was not an excuse for a curtailment of genocide-affirmation efforts.

On the subject of talks with Azerbaijan, Mr. Sargsyan confirmed the long-standing Armenian position that Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be made part of Azerbaijan and that any settlement required serious security guarantees for its Armenian population.

The president's 40-minute introduction was followed by more than 40 statements, remarks, and questions from various organizations and individuals that continued for nearly four hours uninterrupted.

The views expressed ranged from unreservedly supportive to highly critical of the president's policy on the Turkey protocols. There were a number of tense exchanges.

Following the diaspora presentations, and comments by Mr. Ghoukasian and Mr. Harutiunian, Mr. Sargsyan wrapped up the meeting by responding to some of the concerns and questions posed.

According to participants in the Los Angeles meeting, the event involved about 60 diaspora representatives, with the president responding to points raised after each of about 30 presentations. At that meeting, while a number of disagreements were voiced, the discussion remained civil.

Angry protests

Throughout the president's tour, the ARF organized street protests, with many thousands reportedly turning out in Los Angeles on October 4, while up to 200 were seen picketing in New York the day before.

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